How to Stop Acting

Rating:
Summary: Even a beginner can benefit from this book.
Review: After taking an acting class for the past two months, I have had various highs and lows both on stage and off. This book prepares you to accept those accidents of creativity and freedom that make good acting. The author is not exponent of any particular school of thought or ideology. Rather he uses his real world experience as an acting coach to such players as Kevin Kline, Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda, Glenn Close and many others to show how vulnerability and "taking words off the page" rather than memorizing them will contribute to unexpected and startling performances.

His advice for conquering fear, relaxing and "going with the flow" is unconventional, but delightfully intelligent. The author speaks out on auditions, being on stage, and his biggest push is for actors to "be themselves" and let the words in the script speak for themselves. To stop acting, is to start being real, to finding the truth--and if I sound like I'm spouting gibberish, I assure that his writing is clear, concise, logical and well reasoned--and will lead to a deeper and more thoughtful understanding of acting.